


What's In a Name?

by apollaskywalker



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5462846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollaskywalker/pseuds/apollaskywalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR THE FORCE AWAKENS</p>
<p>I can't stress this enough: HERE BE SPOILERS</p>
<p>How Kylo Ren was named</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's In a Name?

During her pregnancy, Han and Leia went through book after book of baby names. They discussed naming the baby after friends they’d lost in the Rebellion, but Leia felt uncomfortable giving the baby a name that would have a legacy tied with it.

 

Luke came over often, which meant he too joined in the discussion. When he’d show up for dinner, he’d show up with a list of names he’d thought about, complete with pros and cons. When he’d arrive after a mission or trip, he’d blurt out the names he’d encountered on his travels that he liked.

 

“What about family?” Han finally suggested. “I didn’t know your parents – birth or adoptive – so that wouldn’t give them something to live up to…on my end anyway.”

 

Leia wrinkled her nose the same way she did when Han came home smelling of engine grease and sweat. “I couldn’t call my child by my parents’ names – _I_ never even called them by their names! They were always mother and father or mom and dad, never Bail or Breha.” Her mouth felt awkward even saying their names, like her tongue had swollen or her lips vanished. “And you’ve never told us your parents names.”

 

“I don’t know them!” Han threw up his hands. He’d told the twins that over and over again. For some reason, they didn’t believe him.

 

“I’ve found some records of Jedi,” Luke offered one day. “Should we read through those? The records are fairly basic, no real biographies with them, so it would just be that we – that you – liked the name.”

 

So they went through those names: Mace, Ki-Adi, Adi, Stass, Depa, Zett, Caleb…

 

“Yoda Solo,” Han snickered as they sat around the living room going through names.

 

“Yoda Organa Solo,” Leia corrected him. “Or Yoda Solo Organa, we haven’t decided that either.”

 

Han gave her a dry stare and repeated, “Yoda Organa Solo.”

 

There was a pause and then Han lost it. Leia joined in soon after. Luke’s immune system had no defense against laughter and he caught it.

 

The three howled with laughter and when they finally settled down, Luke commented, “Well, I guess that means Obi-Wan’s name is off the possibilities too.”

 

Han agreed but Leia became pensive. “Remember…it seems like a life time ago, but remember when we all met?”

 

“Of course, it’s really difficult to forget the Death Star and running for your life. Or nearly being crushed by a garbage compactor,” Han scoffed.

 

“It was because of my message to Obi-Wan. If not for Obi-Wan, we would never have met.”

 

“I’m not sure ‘matchmaker’ is something he would have wanted in his resume,” Han commented, not keen on naming his child “Obi-Wan”.

 

“What about Ben?” Luke suggested seriously. Han looked at Luke, then at Leia, at Luke again, and then Leia.

 

“Ben,” Leia repeated, smiling. “Ben Solo Organa.”

 

“Ben Organa Solo,” Han corrected.

 

“I like it,” she declared. “Ben, that is. We can discuss the surname order later.”

 

Years later, as Leia felt Han’s death through the force, she sat down and gripped the seat tightly, fighting the urge to scream and cry.

 

They had named their son Ben for the man who brought them all together. And now he had torn them apart.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the story of how Kylo Ren got his birth name, not the name "Kylo Ren".
> 
> The title refers to the lines from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is just for fun. Bittersweet, sob inducing fun.


End file.
